Merthur One-shots

Skeletons In The Closet

Summary: Merlin accidentally summons some skeletons instead of the spell he was trying to cast. How will Arthur respond when he finds out?

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Arthur stared at the door to Merlin’s room in shock as the locked door banged against the frame as something clearly was trying to force it open. There was a distinctly unhuman groaning and clanking noise coming from behind the door as well. He turned to look at Merlin, who was next to him, bent over, hands on his knees, as he panted heavily from running up the stairs.

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “You know, when you said that you had some ‘skeletons in the closet’ that you had to show me, I assumed you meant a secret and not, you know, ACTUAL REANIMATED CORPSES TRAPPED IN YOUR ROOM!” Arthur yelled, voice rising in intensity the longer he talked.

Merlin winced. “Whoops… yeah I probably should have clarified that earlier, huh?”

Arthur growled in frustration. “How does this even happen, Merlin?” he asked. “Did they just appear in your bedroom? That doesn’t make any damn sense… this is weird even for you.”

“Hey!” Merlin cried reflexively. “I am not weird!”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “That’s the part of the sentence you take notice of,” he huffed in disbelief. “Answer the question Merlin… How did this happen?”

Merlin fiddled nervously with the bottom of his tunic. “Would you believe me if I said I had no idea?”

Arthur stared at him deadpan, and in a flat voice simply said, “No.”

“What about if I said that they came at me while I was collecting herbs in the woods for Giaus and then they chased me back here and nobody else noticed them?”

“Merlin,” Arthur said through gritted teeth. “I swear to all that is holy, if you do not tell me the truth right now I’ll have you thrown in the stocks for a week.”

Merlin laughed nervously, his eyes flitting around the room as if looking for someone or something to save him, but when he found nothing he swallowed hard.

“Soooo…” Merlin stalled. “I may have a secret I need to tell you… Another skeleton in my closet, as if were,” Merlin tried to break the tension with the joke, but Arthur was not amused and just kept staring at Merlin expectantly.

An especially hard hit to the door startled Merlin out of his silence, and he yelled out, “I have magic!” in a rushed tone. Arthur’s face shut down even more than it had been before at Merlin’s words, and Merlin tried to reassure him. “I’d never use it against you or Camelot, though! I’ve actually saved your life more times than I can count at this point…”

“And how does summoning skeletons into the castle protect me, Merlin?” Arthur asked coldly. “Seems pretty harmful to me.”

Merlin hated the monotone way that Arthur was using with him. “Well… you see, I was trying to figure out a spell to defeat the chimera that’s been terrorizing the countryside before you and the knights got yourselves killed trying to fight it, but I think I accidently pronounced a word wrong or something, and this happened instead… perfectly accidental, I swear.”